The Cost of Freedom
by Analyn 100
Summary: One shots of Reid's post prison life. Takes places within two months of 'Fool Me Once'.
1. Predator or Prey?

**_Two weeks after Reid's release,_ disregards the last five minutes of season 12. Mentioned in Chapter 4 of 'Fool me Once'.**

Spencer Reid hugged a sleeping Michael close, keeping an eye on Henry who ran far head, keeping hold of his birthday hat. "Come on, Uncle Spence! Race ya!"

What had he been thinking? Reid had seen the doubt in J.J.'s eyes, the concern as she patted his shoulder. "It'll be fine," he had assured her when the question had been brought up. It had been his idea to take Henry out for a belated birthday after all. He wouldn't have picked the zoo, of course, but he wasn't about to disappoint the godson he hadn't seen in nearly five months. "You and Will deserve a day together. Go, we'll be fine."

He walked slowly, rocking the baby in his arms as his eyes scanned the crowd. 'I can get you anywhere' This was a bad idea. He was a magnet for trouble and he was going to take the boys down with him. Did Shaw mean anywhere or just within the prison? He must have had contacts on the outside, contacts who could be - anywhere.

No, it wasn't, it was a brilliant idea. Even if an unsub was following them, he'd never attack in a public setting. It took smart people to run drugs through a prison, smart people wouldn't do that. Unless he didn't need to attack. He looked back up at - the crowd. No birthday hat, no neon tie-dye shirt, no godson... "Henry!

He was just here. He ran ahead, leaving the stroller behind. Running with a toddler on his hip was... a bad idea. "Henry!"

He made it to the tiger enclosure, only to find. Nothing. No gangly godson smiling up at him. "Henry?" J.J. was going to kill him. Relax, he's got to be here somewhere. Henry wouldn't go off with strangers, never.

A buzzing sound from his pocket stopped him in his tracks. Of course his phone, it was the 21 century, not the '90s. "Spencer Reid, here."

"Hi, Uncle Spence. Where'd you go?"

Henry? The relief that washed over him was almost palpable. He sank into the park bench, releasing a breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding. "Henry, where are you?"

"At the pizza place."

Of course, he had promised pizza.

* * *

Thirty minutes later he had two arms full of godsons and a full stomach of pizza.

"Mom's gonna kill you." The little devil was smiling.

"You really think so? You think your mom's gonna turn into an unsub -" He stopped mid thought, shaking his head to dispel certain thoughts of a far away laundry room. 'Once you cross that line, you can never go back' Cat's voiced echoed in his brain. 'Watch me.' "Very funny, Henry, no churros for you."

"Awww, Uncle Spence."

"And no tigers!"

"What?" The boy looked absolutely indignant. The tigers had been the main attraction, the one animal he'd been talking about non-stop the whole drive over.

"Well that's what you get for making me lose your mom's stroller." He had reported the theft to the park security, but he wasn't going to lose sleep over it. He had the only thing that mattered with him. "Come on, my turn to pick."

"Okay." Head downcast, Henry trailed behind his godfather.

This wouldn't do for an un-birthday party. "Tell you what, kiddo, you stay IN MY SIGHT the rest of the day and we'll see the tigers on our way out. But you have to be good ALL DAY!"

He would be a terrible father, giving into the kid like that. But that was why uncles and godfathers had the best job in the world.

* * *

To an outside observer, Spencer Reid looked like any other bored father, but Luke Alvez wasn't just any park guest.

"Hey, man, how's it going?"

"Oh, you know, just fine." Spencer Reid had many useful talents - acting wasn't one of them.

"Just fine, right? So you thought it would be a great idea to...guard the entrance to the petting zoo with your back to the wall." Perfect surveillance position.

"Luke, I meant for you to meet me at the gate, you didn't have to -"

"Relax, man, I got you covered." He set the brand new diaper bag full of baby supplies into the rental stroller.

"So, the boys?"

"Are having a ball in the petting zoo. Perfect place to mask the dirty diaper stench. Seriously, you'd think they sell diapers around here. They'd make a fortune." He picked up the diaper bag and disappeared into the petting zoo. He came back several minutes later with a squirmy but clean baby.

"No!" The Terrible Twos were aptly named.

"Michael!" The baby was testing his last nerve, refusing to put his feet down for the stroller. "How does J.J. do it?"

"He wants to walk, Uncle Spence. I've got him." Henry took Michael's hand and walked him ahead of the adults.

If Henry was trying to score points with him, it was working. "Can we go see the tigers now?"

Yup, definitely trying to score back some points. "Stay in my sight!"

* * *

Reid was keenly aware of Alvez's eyes on him, tracking his every move. On any other day, he may have been at least slightly embarrassed by his paranoia, but not today - "Hey, I was thinking. Since you've got a ticket now. Would you -?" No. He couldn't ask. Why not? He was obviously willing. He was here, after all.

"Would I what, Reid? Take over?" Alvez had noted Reid's hyper-vigilance, yet another PTSD symptom.

"It's just - if I leave, then THEY will too." Damn he was starting to sound just as paranoid as his mother.

"Who, Reid, who will leave?"

"I don't know. I just, Shaw told me he could get me anywhere and Lindsey managed to stalk me on cases, this would be easy pickings for them. But they don't want the boys - they want me. I'm a danger to them, I have to -"

"Reid, they're in prison. They can't -"

"Can't get to me?" Reid snorted in disbelief. "Are you really that naive?"

"You're really scared, aren't you?" This wasn't just bogeyman fear. The haunted look in his eyes was real and the fact that he was afraid to take his eyes off the boys for even two seconds, even for surveillance.

"If you really want to go, I'll stay." Reid nodded in gratitude.

"Uncle Spence, you made it!" He let go of Michael's hand for the first time and dragged his godfather over to the tiger enclosure. "Isn't it amazing?"

Reid picked up the baby and handed him off to Alvez. "Yeah, amazing." If Henry noted his godfather's lack of enthusiasm, he made no mention of it. Reid was sure to the eyes of a little boy the massive cat must have been truly impressive, but all Reid saw was the dead look behind the eyes of the predator. With no where to run, the tiger practically glowered at the cheering crowd that had come from all across the world to gawk at him...like happy visitors at a prison.

Predator or prey? Which one are you?

He blinked back the tears, wondering when his life would be whole again.


	2. Freedom at Last

*A few hours after Chapter 1

"Shh, we have to be quiet!" Luke Alvez whispered as he pulled out his spare key. He still couldn't believe it had worked. When he and Reid had swapped keys for Michael's baby seat, he didn't expect Reid to hand over all of his keys. He was just going to chalk that one up to sleep deprivation. Four months of it and brain cells were bound to suffer. "Uncle Spence is sleeping." One could only hope.

Alvez led the way tip-toeing into his apartment, the little boys at his heels. They were met by a welcome sight: Reid and Roxy curled up on the couch. Success! Alvez put the groceries on the table and snapped a cell phone photo, unable to contain his evil grin. The team would never believe it.

"Henry, put the presents here! We'll open them later."

"But -"

"No, no, you and Uncle Spence both open yours together!" Alvez wasn't done with tricks up his sleeve for the evening. Not even close.

"Take a seat," he threw the blankets aside and set the boys on the recliner. "You ever seen 'Free Willy', kid?"

"No, who's Willy?"

"Well let's meet him." Luke turned the volume down as he handed the boys a bowl of ice cream. "No birthday candles until Uncle Spence wakes up."

He dug into his bowl of chocolate chip ice cream, his eyes on Henry's heartbroken face as the Ocra was captured by the fishermen. "I don't think I like this movie, Agent Alvez."

"Don't worry, kid. It gets better," he promised, his eyes locked on Reid's sleeping form. He pulled the blanket back over Reid's shoulder. "It gets better."

"They're gonna kill him."

Reid woke with a start. "What? Frazier No!"

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. It's just us."

Reid looked up in to the concerned eyes of his godson and then up at Alvez hovering over him.. "Someone's dying? Did you get hurt? What -?"

"Relax, Reid, it's a movie." He pointed the remote at the frozen screen. A room was flooding.

"The bad men are draining Willy's tank. They're gonna kill him. Poor Willy."

"Well they wouldn't call it 'Free Willy' if the whale was going to die." Alvez was never one to give away movies, but the kid was just too distraught. "Here, Reid, have some ice cream? You want chocolate chip or strawberry?"

"What time is it? Wait, where's Michael?"

"Playing behind the couch with some of Roxy's toys. Relax, I cleaned them with Lysol wipes...and its 7. So, you slept for what? 5 hours? That is one crazy long nap."

"Are you sick, Uncle Spence?"

"No."

Alvez raised his eyebrows, but decided against trying to explain PTSD to an 8 year old. "Time for cake, our little man has been quite patient, hasn't he?" Song sang and candles blown out with a mystery birthday wish, Reid was surprised when Henry handed HIM a gift with a piece of double chocolate cake and strawberry ice cream.

"For me?"

"Go on, open it." The kid was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Reid carefully opened up the box, wondering what book could be so small and light weight, but it wasn't a book. It was - "A stuffed animal." Did he happen to get Michael's gift on accident. Oh well. "Wow, it's...nice. Thanks."

"Henry, why don't you tell Uncle Spence why you picked an elephant."

"Because elephants are the smartest animal ever, just like you, Uncle Spence!"

Well when he put it like that. He pulled his godson into a huge hug. "Thank you, Henry. Thank you!"

"Come on, let's finish the movie. We're getting to the best part, aren't we 'Uncle Spence'?"

"I've never seen this before."

This may even better therapy than he'd planned on. Time to score some G-rated BAU points.

"Seriously, Reid? Okay, well now you HAVE to! Now quiet down, Henry and no more interruptions if we want to finish before your mom gets here."

Alvez had seen the movie a dozen times as a kid, but this time he found far more joy in watching Reid's face light up as the Orca made a jump for the open ocean. Freedom at long last.

"That was a good movie." He may have only caught the last half an hour, but it was still the best.


	3. Unsub Bait

* A couple of hours later *

"So, you want odds on when J.J.'s going to kill me?" Reid lamented as he washed out his ice cream bowl.

"Zero to none. You'll be fine."

"You sure about that?"

"Absolutely." Alvez took the bowl from him and placed it in the cupboard behind Reid's back. "She looked more sad, than mad, honestly."

"Don't know why, I lost her stroller...and her son."

"You lost sight of Henry for a couple of minutes, it happens. He's fine. Besides, J.J. knew you were...distracted but she trusted - still trusts you - to watch the boys. She probably thought you would take them back to your place early, worst case scenario, but - it worked out. Everyone is home safe."

Alvez didn't miss the way Reid flinched and looked away. Well, maybe not everyone. "Reid?"

Reid didn't respond, his scowling face not looking up from the scrub brush which was being...utilized beyond its normal capacity.

"Reid?" Alvez stood behind him, finally grabbing his hand to stop the scrubbing mid-motion. "Come here." He led Reid towards the sofa, choosing himself to sit on the armrest. "What's going on?"

"I'm fine."

"Reid, you slept for five hours in a strange apartment." Alvez had his theory, but he wanted to hear Reid say it first. "Why can't you sleep at home?"

Reid leaned back against the sofa, his arms folded across his chest, his eye on Roxy's scattered toys.

"Okay, I get if you don't want to talk to me about it, but you have to talk to someone. This can't go on like this, it's not...functional."

"I know. I'm in therapy, but I've only had one session." He really didn't want to discuss his therapy session, it had been hard enough the first time.

Alvez starred, impolite though it was. By all means, given his negative body language, Reid should have been bolting to the door and yet? "You don't want to go home do you? That's why you didn't take the boys home? You thought the zoo was safer because Lindsey got to Cassie -"

"Killed her. She didn't take her, she killed her. She knows where I live and if she's sends someone else -" He took a deep, shuddering breath, his voice breaking. "I couldn't - I can't -"

Alvez took a seat next to Reid on the couch, cautiously placing a hand on his back, attempting to exude some level of comfort. "Reid, why don't you move -?"

"I can't!" The fact that he had tried took Alvez by surprise. How long had he been feeling this way? Had he really been this badly off for the entire two weeks? "My record isn't expunged and I still have a few months on my lease. I took Mom to a hotel one night when her nightmares got bad, but a hotel is where -"

Where Nadie had been killed.

"So that was why you took your mom to Maryland?"

He nodded, not really ready to admit the whole truth yet...he'd barely been able to acknowledge it himself. He'd been keeping her cooped up in his small apartment against her will and it had taken every ounce of strength he'd had to tie her to the bed his first night out of prison. He'd felt like her jailer, a thought that had made him vomit when his therapist had made the connection. He had thought that sending her to a new facility would be like sending her to a new prison, but it had been...strangely liberating for them both.

"The new place has a memory care wing with a keypad security so she can't just walk out but the Wing is large and there's a courtyard."

"So she can be outside without the dangers. Sounds perfect for her."

"It is, she seems to be settling in nicely."

"So she's safe...but you? How have you been taking care of yourself?"

Reid didn't answer. He didn't even take his eyes off of his intertwined fingers, at least he hadn't shoved Alvez's hand of off his shoulder. That had to count for some kind of progress."You haven't been? You're still living on adrenaline." Damn, this was worse than he'd thought.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Well then make me."

"She'll come back. To her, this is a war and she'll try to win the next round."

"Reid, she won't-"

"Yes, she will!" Reid cut him off vehemently, shaking off Alvez's shoulder as he began pacing the small living room, trying to massage away the headache building behind his eyes. "You weren't on that case, Alvez, you don't know her like we do, okay? She has back up plans for her back up plans. She's going to try again."

"Well it won't work. Okay, we won't let this happen again! If there's anything we can do -?"

"There isn't, you can't control their prison correspondence with the outside."

"What if we controlled their - access?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Hang on, take a seat."

Reid sat down, legs crossed on the sofa, eyeing the folders and laptop that Alvez returned with a few minutes later.

"What if we transferred them?"

"You can do that?"

"Got a friend at the BOP - and he already got Shaw moved to Milan for me."

Reid's eyes lit up. "You got Shaw moved to Milan? In Michigan? When?"

"I made a deal that he would either protect you or lose his son. He made his choice so I had him moved the day you got out." Alvez pulled up two webpages on his laptop: the wikipedia list of federal prisons and the BOP homepage. "So, this list is all of the federal prisons: you've got the list of USP and FCI locations. Now if you want to make sure they aren't in with potential accomplices, you can use the inmate locator on the BOP homepage here. So, Boss, who gets to go where? Who do you want to move?"

"Frazier, Cat."

"That it? Just two?"

Did he want to move more? Was it necessary? "Duerson, Malcolm."

"Okay so who is who? Who actually killed Delgado?"

"Frazier. Duerson restrained me."

"Okay, so we don't want those two together."

Reid scanned the list, his eye and finger landing on FCI Lompoc. "There. Malcolm has family in Santa Barbara. He told me. He was nice enough when Frazier wasn't pulling his strings, but -" But he wouldn't hesitate to take revenge on Frazier's behalf, California would be perfect for him.

Alvez wrote it down. "Do you know his full name? No? I'll get Garcia on it tomorrow. Okay, who else? Duerson was the one who restrained you, how about sending him to CA too?" California had a few federal prisons and there really wasn't any state further from D.C.

"Sounds good, just not close by. Don't need the same guards."

"No need for another Wilkins, got it. How about USP Atwater? If they got him on the drug running, he could qualify for higher security."

"Okay, just list an FCI too incase he didn't get charges on that." It was entirely possible that Frazier had not implicated Duerson so that supply could be maintained.

"So USP Atwater or FCI Mendota. Both are over 200 miles from FCI Lompoc according to google maps."

"Perfect."

"What about Frazier? Send him to California too?"

"No." He wanted Frazier to suffer. He scanned the list of federal USPs, his eyes stopping at ADX. Florence ADX, Colorado. He clicked on the link. Alcatraz of the Rookies. "There. Send him there."

Alvez read his selection, problems popping up almost immediately. "Reid, that's where they send the worst of the worst in the federal system."

"What do you call slicing a fellow inmate's throat?"

"Okay, what's the point of the federal justice system, Reid? Why do we do what we do?"

Reid's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline - the question rendering him speechless.

"We catch the bad guys - we get them off of the streets. Frazier is off of the streets."

"So? He's still a danger -"

Okay, Alvez was going to chalk this up to PTSS. "No, he's not! Not to the innocent -"

"LUIS WAS INNOCENT!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Alvez had to physically block Reid's exit and grab his hands to prevent him from - doing something. He looked ready for a fight. "Reid, calm down. I'm trying to help, remember?"

"He was innocent. He didn't deserve that."

"I'm not saying he did. No one deserves that."

"He was like _me_ , Alvez. _He was innocent._ You think that means nothing?"

"No, of course not." He kept Reid's hands tightly held in his own, even as Reid tried to pull away. "I didn't mean it like that." He highly doubted that Luis was as innocent as Reid claimed, but knew arguing that was a moot point.

"How did you mean it?" Reid asked his voice breaking.

"Prison offenses, even violent ones, take a back seat in the judicial system. They usually only go to the courts if it means added sentencing."

"It was murder, if that doesn't qualify -"

"Reid, slow down." Before you start hyperventilating. "That depends, was Frazier already doing life without parole?"

"I don't know...no one talked about time." It was unofficially forbidden.

Alvez kept his eyes or Reid's which wandered the length of the apartment, refusing to look him in the eye. Refusing to let him see the fear in them. He spoke slowly, trying to pull Reid out of whatever prison-like trance the PTSS had him trapped in. "My point was that Luis' murder might not even be on Frazier's official record yet, so he might not qualify for ADX security, but we can move him to the Complex. The Florence Federal Corrections Complex includes a PC, FCI, USP and ADX so either way he'll qualify for the transfer." There you go, Kid. Calm down. That's it. Reid was starting to mirror his slow, deep breathing whether he realized it or not. "Now, about Cat? How about here?"

Reid, sufficiently calmed down, wiped the stray tears from his eyes and looked at the screen for two seconds. "NO! Not - No WAY!"

"Reid, it makes sense. FMC Carswell is -"

"In Texas! You know how many potential accomplices they have there?"

"It's a Federal Medical Center with a unit of the highest security for women in the federal system - and they have extra medical supplies which is perfect for Cat's pregnancy. This is the best -"

"IT'S IN TEXAS!" Nothing good could come of sending Cat or Lindsey to Texas, never mind both of them. "NO!" He took the laptop, scanning the list for a few minutes. "Here we go, FCI Waseca. Send Cat there, it's perfect."

"Waseca? Reid, that's low security! You want her in lower security? Are you sure?"

"I don't see her accomplices traveling to Minnesota to appease her revenge desire."

"And what if they try to break her out from the hospital?"

"How far can they get surrounded by 15 miles of nothing? It's perfect, besides I won't let them get far."

"You won't- what?" Alvez didn't like the sound of that.

"I'm going to get vacation time in December and camp out at the nearest hotel and if anything happens - They won't get far. I'll bring her back in myself if I have to."

Alvez raised an eyebrow, which Reid didn't even notice. Perfect? Nothing sounded further from perfect to Alvez. Reid's level of paranoia sounded downright alarming - but what difference would it make in reality? The point was getting Reid's paranoia down and if this made him feel safer. "What about Lindsey? Send her there too?" If Reid tried to split them up, he might have to put up a fight. Splitting those two up had been what started this whole mess.

"Can't," Reid admitted. He looked mad. "She's pre-trial."

"I thought she plead guilty." That wasn't strictly true, she could be moved but the BOP would frown upon moving her too far away from her assigned district. The nearest federal prison was in West Virginia but Reid wanted moves much further west which _was_ out of the question at the moment.

"She did, she pled guilty to several murders. But she pled not guilty for Nadie's murder and my mom's abduction. Fiona told me. Don't know what she's playing at. What difference could it make if she's already in for life?"

"She wants to drag you to court for your mom's case, and maybe Nadie's too. She wants to make you suffer if she can."

"Looks like it, besides I want Cat moved as soon as possible. They're both in Mount Pleasant and I don't like the idea of them - concocting ideas."

"Well, Cat's in solitary so I bet -"

"Bet nothing - notes can get into solitary confinement. Been there, done that."

"You sent notes from solitary?"

"Got a death threat sent to me, more like." That cell had been like purgatory and heaven all rolled into one.

Looked like he was going to have to move Lindsey behind Reid's back after her trial or there might be Hell to pay. Alvez threw Reid a blanket and pillow. "You're staying the night. I'll talk to my landlord tomorrow about getting you the vacancy upstairs. It's a studio, extra tiny but it's got the added bonus of no serial killer targets painted on the door."

"What about my apartment?" He wasn't sure he could afford two rents even if the second one was cheaper.

"I'm sure I can arrange something with Rossi. You never know, he might want to keep it himself as unsub bait."

"Unsub bait? Like a backwards safe house?"

"Good night, Reid."

* * *

Please correct any prison information I get wrong. Most of my info comes from the Federal Prison List on Wikipedia or documentaries.


End file.
